To get you in the mood for today's 08.08.08 8pm Beijing Olympics opening ceremony here are some pictures taken on the first day of the Trafalgar Square Festival yesterday, featuring Yellow Earth Theatre and the Flying Dragon Circus setting the Square alight. Catch them again, today and tomorrow. The Festival runs until 23 August. Many thanks to leonardaye and Ali y Javier for the images.......

Our environmentally sustainable Mayor is taking on the IOC bigwigs who are demanding VIP fast lanes for a fleet of up to 3000 cars "to take officials, politicians and corporate sponsors to venues" at the 2012 Games. No fool he, cunningly waiting until they'd finished their progress inspection and given a favourable verdict earlier this week. He's not diving headlong into a fight though, preferring to wait until the Beijing Olympics are over this......

Hands up who remembers Kriss Akabusi running though Greenwich with the torch a few years back? Us too. We also remember thinking it would have been great fun to have a go. It appears that if we were still at school, me might have just got that chance. Secondary schools from all over the city can nominate pupils to carry the torch through London for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The torch makes its way......

(Actually, they’re not. We’re feeling all pretentious this morning and wish to demonstrate our superior education in the Classics.) Turns out the 2012 Olympic venue for canoe slalom, Spitalbrook in Hertfordshire, is tainted with muck. Heavy pollution has forced the Olympic Delivery Authority to seek a new location six miles further south. The proposed move has yet to be approved by the International Olympic Committee. We think shifting the event to cleaner waters is......

London 2012 has "Embraced Web 2.0 and Green IT". Zeitgeist-o-rama. Alex Balfour, head of new media for the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) said, We have set out to do things differently and embrace new media. People under 20 use social networking instead of email. It's important we make the most of that opportunity. Our new media channels will be the number-one way for people to share, access......

Olympic games...giant ferris wheel...it must be a story about London right? Well, you might want to shift your focus slightly to the east, as this story is actually about Shanghai's plans to build their own giant wheel in time for the Beijing Olympics. According to Reuters, "The Shanghai Star Ferris is due to start spinning by 2008 and will stand at 200 to 230 meters, stripping the world's tallest title from the 135-meter London......